


Blood, Magic, And Darkness

by megsblackfire



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Bittersweet Ending, Halloween Skin AU, Jack is not in his halloween skin, M/M, Magic AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-16
Updated: 2016-10-16
Packaged: 2018-08-22 16:05:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8291927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/megsblackfire/pseuds/megsblackfire
Summary: Angela The Defiler has wrought her twisted, foul magic for long enough. If Jack was to bring this nightmare to an end, he had to destroy the witch he once called his friend. It was the final confrontation. He would either bring peace to Gabriel Reyes' twisted soul or find himself joining his friend in eternal agony.





	

Jack faced down the Witch, his breathing ragged. Blood was dripping out of the wound in his side, pattering softly against the flagstones. The Witch wasn’t much better. She was struggling to remain upright, the only thing keeping her standing was her staff. Her lips were twisted into a grimace, her beautiful features melting away to show the twisted creature she had become over the years of her extended life.

“This ends here, Angela,” Jack said as he tucked the butt of his rifle closer into his shoulder. “No more lies. No more games. Just you and me.”

“You are a fool, Jack Morrison,” Angela hissed at him as she lifted her hand. “I am never alone! Reaper, bring me his head!”

Jack twisted to block the blow that came from the shadows. The pumpkin head burned furiously down at him as sharp claws dragged over his rifle. An unnatural scream echoed from the maw of the beast, but Jack pushed through it. He had to if he wanted to save the poor witch trapped inside the monstrosity.

“Fight her,” Jack hissed. “Fight the hold she has on you! You were a noble witch once, Reaper! Don’t let her magic twist you any further.”

“He can’t hear you, Jack,” Angela laughed as she stepped back. “There isn’t any room left in that head for emotions. He kills because I tell him to and I told him to bring me your head. You will be dead, Jack, and no one will stop me ever again.”

“Is that what you want, Reaper?” Jack hissed at the figure slowly shoving him towards the ground. “Is that what you want? Huh? Do you want Angela to take more innocent lives and twist them into abominations?”

Reaper let out a low snarl as he pushed Jack to the ground. He straddled Jack’s hips, pinning his arms down under the weight of his rifle. The grinning pumpkin face leered down at him, eyes flashing a sickening orange. Jack could feel the malice oozing off of the creature above him, but he could also hear the tortured screams of a soul caught in a snare of horrid, twisted magic.

“You can still fight her, Reaper,” Jack said softly. “Let me help you. Like that fox kit we saved from a hunter’s snare.”

Reaper froze. Wave after wave of confusion washed over Jack as Reaper started shaking. Sharp claws dragged over Jack’s mutilated face, digging in just enough to make him hiss in pain. A low growl emanated from deep within the creature before he grabbed Jack by the throat and squeezed. Reaper shrieked down at Jack, the pumpkin’s maw opening wide. He was dead if that maw came close to him.

Jack clawed at the hand around his throat, coughing and spluttering as the glowing maw came close and closer. He shook his head, trying to ignore Angela’s laughter as her magic started surging around them. He would not be trapped as his friend was within the body of a twisted creature. He would not allow it. He stopped trying to get the claws off of his throat and instead grabbed onto the jaw of the pumpkin head. The creature froze in shock and Jack wrenched as hard as he could.

The pumpkin head exploded off of the creature’s head, letting the unnatural orange glow wash over Jack. Jack threw the head as hard as he could at Angela, not caring if it reached her or not. It shattered against the ground, covering the flagstones in pieces of bright orange rind and bits of juice.

“Fool!” Angela cackled. “Do you think that will save you? Reaper, kill him! Devour his soul and bring it to me!”

Jack shoved his hands into the orange glow and felt himself getting drawn into the creature’s soul. He thrashed for a moment, fighting the suction that was determined to devour him. He grit his teeth and splayed his fingers out, looking for the edges of the magical net holding Gabriel Reyes’ soul hostage. The pads of his fingers brushed against something and brilliant green lines flared against his eyelids. A familiar soul twisted against his hand, pressing in close.

Love and adoration swept through him as the soul battered against the edges of the net. Jack wrapped his fingers around the net, gritting his teeth as Angela cackled and Reaper continued trying to devour him. He tugged on the net, gritting his teeth more and reaching deep into his soul for the magic he swore he would never use again until Angela was dead.

 _“Break the binds,”_ he ordered in the Ancient Tongue. _“Release the soul within. Turn back that which has been perverted from its intended purpose. Cleanse this being and let him find rest!”_

The world exploded in a shower of red and he was thrown backwards. Jack bounced along the flagstones, coming to a painful stop a safe distance from the creature. He sat up coughing and stared as Reaper contort and shudder. Orange light shot up towards the heavens and the long claws curled towards Reaper’s throat as the creature let out a horrible shriek of agony. Jack sat up, reaching for his rifle as a ghostly visage appeared in the orange light.

Tears were racing down Gabriel’s face as the orange light turned black. Long tendrils twisted and reached for him, clawing up the flagstones as Angela screeched and tried to undo what Jack had just wrought on her abomination. Jack smiled as the tendrils wrapped around him, pushing under his flesh until dark magic and blood magic ran perfectly in tune inside of him.

“Jack,” Gabriel whispered inside of his head. “You came back for me.”

“I promised I would,” Jack murmured. “Let’s finish this, old friend.”

“Until the stars fall from the heavens,” Gabriel growled.

With a snarl, Gabriel twisted towards Angela. He slashed downwards with his arm, knocking the witch off of her feet and down to the cobblestones as black, shadowy tendrils struck her. Blood sprayed through the air and she screamed, covering her face as flesh split from the blow. Gabriel shrieked in fury as Jack got to his feet. He holstered his rifle, drawing power from the spilt blood; both his own and Angela’s.

_“Come to me, Spirits of Blood! Heed your master’s call! A pox has grown in this woman’s heart and we will wipe it clean! Come to me, my darling monsters! Show her the error of her ways! Let her see the pain she has caused with her nasty, twisted ways! Come to me!”_

Howling swirled through the air as creatures took form from the blood covering the flagstones. Angela scrambled backwards, her blue eyes wide in horror as the twisted creations approached her. They snapped their jaws, watching her as blood gushed down her face.

“No!” she shrieked, throwing a hand out and blasting one beast to ash. “Stay back, you unnatural fiends!”

“They are more natural than you, Angela,” Jack said as he stood by Gabriel and lifted his chin. “You dabbled into magic that never should have been touched. You were a Witch of the Wilds once, but even the wilds will not save you now. Poison, rot, and decay have their place in this world; you sought to control it, to displace it, to master it. You should have known that was foolish.”

“Hypocrite!” Angela shrieked as the beasts continued forward. “You deal with blood! You can save people as easily as kill them! Why are you natural but I am not?”

“Because he does not bring back those that are already dead,” Reaper growled in the voice of the dead. “You lifted corpses from their graves and sent them out to do your bidding. You shattered the natural order, attempted to control death and life. For that, you must be punished.”

“You are one to talk, shadow-fiend!” Angela snarled as she blasted another creature to ash. “You played and toyed with death!”

“I brought death to the living,” Reaper lifted his hands and studied his claws with a faint smile. “I never brought life to the dead. Farewell, Angela; may your soul find peace in the wilds.”

Angela screamed as the first creature lunged for her. She tried to get to her feet, blasting three more creatures before the shadows came to life behind her. They grabbed her arms and held her still as the blood creatures dove into each of her wounds. Blood gushed wildly out of her and she contorted with a scream. Green magic glowed under her rotting skin as the blood creatures raced through her and cleansed her of the corrupting magic she had willingly accepted into her.

Her mottled green skin faded slowly back to pale white and she slumped in the arms of the shadows. Blood dribbled out of her mouth and her soul slipped past her lips. The green doe bounded away two steps before turning back to look at them. Long ears perked forward before Angela’s familiar turned and bounded away over the flagstones, vanishing into the forest beyond.

Silence stretched on as the shadows slowly lowered Angela’s body to the ground. Jack closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. He felt Gabriel’s claws on his cheek and smiled as tears rolled down his face.

“Good-bye, Gabriel,” he whispered. “You are free.”

“Thank you, Jack,” Gabriel whispered in his blood. _“Until the moon calls us home.”_

 _“I will wait for you in the shadows of the sun,”_ he promised.

He opened his eyes and he was alone. He swallowed down a lump in his throat and wiped at his eyes. He knelt down and picked up Gabriel’s pendent, smiling sadly at the sight of the owl with its wings outstretched. He slipped the pendent over his head and tucked it safely into his shirt.

He looked around at the destroyed courtyard before he turned and started walking away. Three hounds trotted at his heels, their fur slick with blood. His familiars fanned out around him before they tipped their heads back and brayed at the moon. Magic flowed around him, cleansing the courtyard as readily as he cleansed battlefields.

The hunt was over. Angela the Defiler was dead. Gabriel Reyes’ soul was freed from Reaper’s desecrated corpse. Jack the Blood Witch was back.

It was time to begin anew.

**Author's Note:**

> It's not that I hate Angela Ziegler, it's just that I don't trust her as far as I can throw her~
> 
> When I say bittersweet ending, I mean it. Jack is left to wander the world with only his three familiars now.


End file.
